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          The US dollar gained ground against the Bangladesh taka last week despite lower demand for the greenback in the inter-bank foreign exchange market. The nationalised banks raised their transaction rates in the market that facilitated the dollar to gain. The dollar was, however, steady in the local informal market. The greenback was firmer in public deals, fund manager sources said.
The exchange rate of the greenback varied between Tk 66.00 and Tk 66.20 against previous week's range between Tk 66.00 and Tk 66.20.
The market witnessed speculation that the greenback might earn further gain. The dealer banks have already decided to gradually raise the interbank exchange rate ultimately to Tk 67.00 level. It may create some barrier to the process of improving the foreign exchange management. The central bank was cautious to inject the dollar in the market through the NCBs, fund dealer said.
The total interbank spot transactions stood at about 2.00 million dollar in the week against around 3.50 million dollar of previous week, reflecting a slide in demand for the greenback. The dealer banks used swap deals increasingly against customer requirements that facilitated them to fund their import payment obligations instantly and reduce pressure on the spot market, they said.
The overall demand for the dollar was higher due to import payments and profit remittance. The supply was nourished by inward remittance and export proceeds. The total liquid holding of the banking system helped keep liquidity for demand-supply balance, fund managers said.
The central bank sharpened its monitoring and supervision activities to check misuse of the foreign exchanges. The dealer banks had to submit their daily foreign exchange transaction reports to the central bank in prescribed formats, they said.
The central bank continued to use its reverse repurchase agreement tool to keep the local currency costly in the inter-bank market as a measure for checking excess buying of the dollar. The central bank has also taken some measures for ensuring cautious disbursement of credit particularly to private sector, they said.
The nationalised commercial banks (NCBs) mainly performed as the sellers, while the private sector commercial banks performed were mostly buyers. The NCBs preferred to maintain the exchange rate of the dollar at high level so that expatriates feel encouraged to send their money through the banking channel, they said.
The dealer banks offered improved services to Bangladeshi expatriates so that they take interest in using the banking channel for transferring their funds. Some private sector local banks and foreign banks made readjustments in exchange rates to accommodate to the market trend, they added.
The nationalised banks transacted the dollar mainly at rates between Tk 66.15 and Tk 66.20 against previous week's rates that varied between Tk 66.10-66.20 in the inter-bank market. The private sector local and foreign banks made transactions of the greenback among them at the rates sticking to the same band.
The dollar was traded at rates between Tk 67.20 and Tk 67.50 in the local informal market against the previous week's range between Tk 67.10 and Tk 67.50. The brokers purchased the dollar mainly at rates between Tk 61.20 and Tk 67.30 and sold it between Tk 67.40 and Tk 67.50, money dealers said.
The cash dollar was firmer in public deals and it was traded between Tk 64.45 and Tk 67.92.
In the regional market, most of the currencies were steady against the dollar. The exchange rate of the Indian rupee against the taka ranged between Tk 1.48 and Tk 1.53. The exchange rate of the dollar against the Indian rupee varied between Rs 44.98 and Rs 45.29. The Pakistani rupee ranged between Rs 59.74 and Rs 59.92.
The exchange rate of the dollar against the Malaysian ringgit varied between 3.7780 ringgit and 3.7805 ringgit and against the Thai baht between 40.90 baths and 40.98 baths.
In the international market, the dollar was traded between 116.40 yen and 117.25 yen against the previous range between 117.20 yen and 120.86 yen. The euro was traded between 1.1860 dollar and 1.2036 dollar.